On February 4, 2010, pushing for passage of her pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said[1] on the House floor: “When I became Speaker of the House, the very first day we passed legislation that made PAYGO the rule of the House. Today we will make it the law of the land. … So the time is long overdue for this to be taken for granted. The federal government will pay as it goes.” That was the promise. But here is the reality[2]: in the three years that Speaker Pelosi has enforced her PAYGO rule, the House has violated it by nearly $1 trillion[3].

And now with the U.S. Debt Clock[4] officially passing the $13 trillion milestone Wednesday, the House is set to violate their own PAYGO law yet again, this time to the tune of around $150 billion[5]. The legislation clocks-in at almost one-fifth the size of President Barack Obama’s original $862 billion failed economic stimulus, and the leftist majority in Congress has titled it “The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.” And it is a tax-hiking, spending-exploding, job-killing, deficit-hiking wonder.

And then there is what was originally the largest-ticket item in the bill: $65 billion over three and a half years for increasing physician Medicare reimbursements, aka the “doc fix.” This one item alone proves that all of President Barack Obama’s claims that his health care law reduces the deficit are 100% false. The CBO report this month estimated that $276 billion would be required to shore up the “doc fix” over the next decade. Adding that spending to Obamacare’s already $940 billion total would easily push it into the red. That is why Congress did not address the problem in Obamacare. Brandeis University professor Stuart Altman calls the “doc fix” charade “one of the worst pieces of legislation I’ve ever seen.”[12] The House has cut this version of the “doc fix” down to $21.8 billion just through December 2011.

The front page of USA TODAY[14] asks “Is oil spill becoming Obama’s Katrina?” and cites a new Gallup poll finding that 53% of adults say President Obama is doing a “poor” or “very poor” job of handling the spill.

Democrats Majority Whip Dick Durbin (IL) and Gov. Ed Rendell (PA) called on Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) to detail his claim [15] that the White House offered him a job in exchange for dropping out of the PA Senate primary, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said if Sestak’s allegations are true, it is an impeachable [16] offense.

The Obama Justice Department has drafted a legal challenge[18] asserting that Arizona’s immigration enforcement law is unconstitutional because it impinges on the federal government’s authority to police the nation’s borders.

Tea Party Patriots is Standing with Arizona

When: Saturday May 29th, 2010 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Where: Diablo Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
2200 West Alameda Tempe, AZ 85252
Come one come all! This event will allow you to stand and be counted among the supporters of Arizona’s fight at the border. Speakers will educate and performers will entertain in this family friendly venue. Spend your Memorial Day weekend in Arizona! Caravans of people from across the USA are encouraged to come and support Arizona tourism.

Featuring

“America’s Toughest Sheriff”
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Also featuring:
Master of Ceremonies: Mike Broomhead of KFYI Radio
Dr. Gina Loudon, founder and leader of the BUYcott campaign.
Marc Spencer, President, Phoenix Law Enforcement Association.
…with many other great speakers in the lineup.

President Obama has finally decided to take action against the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants on our southern border, announcing a plan[1] to mobilize 1,200 soldiers.

The president’s soothsayers must finally have noticed that Obama’s immigration non-policy and his kowtowing to Mexico’s president don’t sit well with the voters. Axelrod, et al must be worried, as there is no other explanation for this move — since it is purely political and cosmetic.

The president’s plan is a day late and a dollar short, wholly inadequate to get the job done.

In the late 19th century, the U.S. government built a series of forts in the American southwest with full complements of U.S. Cavalry. Some, like Fort Huachuca[2], established in 1877, are still active military posts. Huachuca was home to the famed all-black 10th Cavalry Regiment, better known as the “Buffalo Soldiers.” American icon Douglas MacArthur spent some of his youth in one of these forts — his father Arthur was the commanding officer.

The forts were designed to protect the settlers from the constant raids of the native Apaches, who didn’t take kindly to having their land taken.

It worked.

Anyone who has visited the border may have been surprised to find the Border Patrol is in fact stationed 20 miles north of it. Yes, we now cede 20 miles of our nation to illegal drug and immigration activity. This activity needs to be stopped at the border, not in Phoenix or Tucson.

Currently the Border Patrol behaves like cops in a city. They meet each morning at headquarters, receive their assignments, and then go out for the day to patrol. The Border Patrol also conducts night operations, but there is no 24-hour presence in force at the actual border.

One current effective tactic is the utilization of Forward Observation Bases (FOB). These stations are situated right along the border and staffed with Border Patrol agents, who live at the bases for days at a time, using horses and ATVs to patrol the area.

Human traffickers and drug smugglers avoid these places. It works.

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has written President Obama regarding building more FOBs on the border. She has also written to fellow Arizonan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. New Mexico’s two U.S. senators, Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall — both Democrats — have also urged that more FOBs be built in the boot heel of New Mexico.

The pleas of all three have been met with silence.

The Arizona Cattle Growers have released an 18-point plan[3] for securing the border. Among other things, the ranchers propose that these FOBs be expanded right at the border and spaced 12 miles apart. They would be fully staffed and provisioned year-round. The ranchers have agreed to help provide key logistical support — namely water. They already have stock tanks, wells, and pumps to provide water for their cattle, so this is not an insurmountable problem. According to Hugh Holub, an old-fashioned country lawyer and writer living in the war zone south of Tucson, the head of the Border Patrol in that area — Victor Manjarrez — is on the record saying he wants more FOBs because they are extremely effective.

The land on the border is very tough on vehicles, and some areas are simply unreachable on wheels. But how about horses? The Arizona cowboys use them in the area, just like the Buffalo Soldiers did over 100 years ago. Think it’s a crazy idea? Read Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. He writers that the U.S. Special Forces used horses and mules to great effect in 2001 to topple the Taliban during Operation Enduring Freedom.

If we could make horses work in Afghanistan, we surely could do it at home in cowboy country. Time to sound the bugle call, “Boots and Saddles,” and bring back the U.S. Cavalry.

Rep. Joe Sestak[1], the winner of the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, says quite openly and repeatedly that he was offered a job by the White House if he would drop out of the race against Sen. Arlen Specter. Having secured Specter’s conversion to the Democratic Party, thus giving the party a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the Obama administration obviously sought to keep its word to Specter that it would do its utmost to deliver the Democratic nomination to him. According to Sestak, that included a job offer.

Who made the offer? What position was offered? And when did it happen? Sestak, who was nominated on a platform of “transparency” refuses to answer any of these questions. The White House[1] admits that a conversation took place but won’t provide any details and insists that an “internal investigation” revealed that “nothing inappropriate” took place.

Or did it?

It is unlikely that Sestak was offered a job interviewing people for the census. Only a high-level job offer — a Cabinet post or an ambassadorship to a key country — would have sufficient gravitas to conceivably induce him to drop his primary challenge. Some have speculated that Sestak, a retired admiral, might have been offered the post of secretary of the navy. Others wonder that, since he is fluent in Russian, he was to be tapped for ambassador to Moscow.

And, before an offer of that magnitude were tendered, it would have had to have been cleared with the higher levels of the White House[1]. How could an offer of a Cabinet post have been made without consultation with the chief of staff?

And how was the offer made? It would have to have been proffered by somebody who Sestak could reasonably assume was speaking for the president and could deliver on his end of the deal. A lower-level official wouldn’t have that kind of clout.

Could the offer have been tendered by Rahm Emanuel[1] himself? It’s clearly his style.

But, could Rahm or anyone else have made such an offer without consulting the president himself? You can’t go around passing out Cabinet posts or ambassadorships without consulting the boss. Whatever position of that level the White House dangled in front of him, it would have to have been approved by the president.

And Sestak must have probed the person who conveyed the offer to ascertain its bona fides. He would reasonably have asked, “Did you clear this with the president?” Otherwise, why would he even consider such an offer?

The White House and Sestak are stonewalling questions from the media, and obviously, a Democratic controlled Congress is not about to go poking around asking about the proposed deal.

So how could the Republicans break it open?

The weak link here is Sestak himself, who claims that he embraces “transparency.” Fueled by his primary victory and the momentum it generated, Rasmussen has him four points ahead of Pat Toomey[1], the GOP candidate. This lead won’t hold up for long in the face of a refusal to respond to questions the public is entitled to have answered.

Toomey or the Republican Party or other independent expenditure groups should run ads throughout Pennsylvania asking these basic questions. They should tell Sestak that he ran on a platform of transparency and that its time to reveal who offered what and when.

Either Sestak is lying and there was never an offer, or the White House has skirted very close to having committed a crime or may have stepped over the edge. And, considering the stakes and the nature of what the offer would have had to have been, this scandal could reach very high indeed.

Is it a high crime and misdemeanor to offer someone something of value in return for withdrawing from a U.S. Senate race? We may be about to find out.

If a Democratic member of Congress is to be believed, there’s someone in the Obama administration who has committed a crime – and if the president knew about it, analysts say it could be grounds for impeachment.

“This scandal could be enormous,” said Dick Morris, a former White House adviser to President Bill Clinton, on the Fox News Sean Hannity show last night. “It’s Valerie Plame only 10 times bigger, because it’s illegal and Joe Sestak is either lying or the White House committed a crime.

“Obviously, the offer of a significant job in the White House could not be made unless it was by Rahm Emanuel or cleared with Rahm Emanuel,” he said. If the job offer was high enough that it also had Obama’s apppoval, “that is a high crime and misdemeanor.”

“In other words, an impeachable offense?” Hannity asked.

“Absolutely,” said Morris.

The controversy revolves around an oft-repeated statement by Rep. Sestak, D-Pa., that he had been offered a job by the Obama administration in exchange for dropping out of the senatorial primary against Obama supporter Sen. Arlen Specter.

Sestak said he refused the offer. He continued in the Senate primary and defeated Specter for the Democratic nomination.

But Karl Rove, longtime White House adviser to President George W. Bush, said the charge is explosive because of federal law.

“This is a pretty extraordinary charge: ‘They tried to bribe me out of the race by offering me a job,’” he said on Greta Van Susteran’s “On the Record” program on the Fox News Channel. “Look, that’s a violation of the federal code: 18 USC 600 says that a federal official cannot promise employment, a job in the federal government, in return for a political act.